Picture of the Day: Sea of Cherry Blossom Petals

The annual blooming of cherry blossoms in Japan is a wildly popular cultural event as people flock to popular blooming locations all over the country. The blossoming begins in Okinawa in January and typically reaches Kyoto and Tokyo at the end of March or the beginning of April. It proceeds into areas at the higher altitudes and northward, arriving in Hokkaidō a few weeks later. Japanese pay close attention to these forecasts and turn out in large numbers at parks, shrines, and temples. [source]

In this amazing capture by @WizardsTools on Twitter, we observe a sea of cherry blossom petals floating along the moat that surrounds Hirosaki Castle in Hirosaki, Aomori, Japan. The surrounding park is one of Japan’s most famous cherry blossom spots where over a million people enjoy the park’s 2600 trees (which were originally planted around 1903) during the sakura matsuri (cherry blossom festival). [source]